Chapter 25 #2
With a roar, I cast the glass at the wall beside me, shattering it into tiny pieces, coating my floor in wine.
Just that one time.
One time, and she’s already gotten me entranced.
I must find her.
I simply have to, or I will die trying.
She’s the key to unfolding all of this.
Suddenly, my phone buzzes, and I pull it out of my pocket, fully expecting the station to ask me to return to the office because of a newly found lead, or better, someone coming forward.
But all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up the moment I see the word.
Unknown.
And my dick instantly throbs.
Fuck.
Unknown: Hello, Detective Foley. Remember our previous engagement?
Engagement? Engagement?!
Me: What do you want, woman?
Unknown: No need to bite, doggy. Especially not the hand that feeds you.
I immediately glance around my house, my free hand resting on the gun I’m still carrying. If she’s here, I must be prepared to take her down before she gets her hands on me again.
Unknown: Tell me, when you think of me, does your dick get hard?
Me: Come face me, and you can find out.
Unknown: I’d bet you’d like that …
Grinding my teeth, I furiously type back.
Me: Stop these games.
Unknown: Why? They’re so much fun.
Me: Coward.
Unknown: I’ll give you the information you’re so desperate for.
I sit up straight.
Me: Send it then.
Unknown: Oh no, it’s not for free. You have to come and find it.
I roll my eyes. Always that duplicity.
Me: Tell me where.
She texts me an address, and I stare at it for a moment, then look it up on the map app. That’s a children’s playground.
What the …?
Me: Do you have more info?
Unknown: That’s it. Good luck on your scavenger hunt, Officer Foley!
My eyes narrow. Something about this smells awfully fishy. But I need to know what she’s up to, so I tuck my phone into my pocket and get up to swiftly clean up the mess I made with the wineglass before heading out.
Time for a rendezvous.
Sunny
I put on the balaclava I stole from Levi’s motorcycle while he wasn’t looking and head into the alley behind the police building in my black motorcycle suit, incognito, unrecognizable. I pull out my trusty old hook so I can latch onto the ledge again and hoist myself up with the rope.
The window has been shut, but I have my ways to get inside. All I need is my credit card and a little swiping between the window sash and the frame, and voilà.
A grin spreads on my lips as I push open the window and slip inside through the gap.
Now that Officer Foley has gone on a little fool’s errand, I have all the time I need to sniff through his office again.
I didn’t think he’d be so gullible to actually fall for my trap, but I guess he’s just too damn hungry for a lead.
Lucky for me, because I know just how to play men like him to my advantage.
All I have to do is find any evidence that could lead back to Xavier and Orion, and erase it from existence.
I sneak around Foley’s office, but all the papers are missing from his desk this time. Maybe he locked them up somewhere. I kneel near his drawer to rummage through it, but of course it’s locked, so I take out my handy paperclip and shove it into the lock to pick it open.
CLICK!
I’m so hyper-focused on breaking into his desk that I barely notice the flickering light above me.
Or the fact that it suddenly turns off.
CLICK!
Right when the desk opens, the light flickers back on.
But when my eyes rise from the drawer to the gun aimed at my forehead, I pause.
Foley’s voice brings goose bumps to my skin. “Caught you.”
Holy shit.
I swiftly swat the gun to the side and pull out my knife, but he grabs my arm and knocks it out of my hand.
“Don’t even think about it,” he growls.
“You were supposed to be at the playground,” I hiss back.
This wasn’t part of the plan.
I pull out another knife with my other hand from between my titties and swipe it along his neck. He releases me as he leans back, barely avoiding being sliced, but I still manage to nick his chin.
“I don’t fall for cheap distractions,” he retorts, rubbing the blood off his chin.
“And here I was thinking you were easy to manipulate. I’m impressed.” I smile. Since he’s here anyway, might as well ask some questions. “What’s in that drawer?”
“Is that why you came here?” He raises his gun to my chest again. “Move away from the desk.”
I laugh in his face. “You really think you can shoot me?”
“I will if you don’t drop that and back down immediately.”
The moment his fingers pull at the trigger, I sidestep and slam the knife into the metal, knocking it out of his hand.
He pulls out a baton and swings away, and I grab a dumb miniature from his desk and use it to defend myself from his strikes. I jab him with my knife, but the second my knife connects with his shirt, he grabs my wrist with his other hand and twists it until I scream.
“I said, drop it,” he hisses.
“You have some nerve going up against a woman like that,” I retort, and I spit in his face.
He narrows his eyes. “Playing the lady card already?”
“I’ll show you how I fight like a lady.”
He shoves me back against the desk, so I knee him in the balls. “Oompf.”
He bends over, so I shove him aside.
Fuck this, I didn’t account for him being here, and I’m not staying one second longer.
Suddenly, he grabs my coat and stops me in my tracks, then wraps his arm around my throat to put me in a chokehold.
“Leaving so soon?” he growls.
I can’t fucking breathe with his arm around my neck, so I stomp him in the side. He’s relentless as he pushes me forward and slams me into the wall, knocking the remaining air right out of my lungs.
“And I thought we were finally getting acquainted with one another.”
I suck in some oxygen through my teeth. “Fuck. You.”
“You have a thing for men who can’t say no to you, don’t you?” he murmurs as he leans in, pressing himself up against me so I can’t escape.
“And you seem to have a thing for women you can’t control,” I hiss back, feeling his hard-on grow against my back. “Even now, you’ve got a hard-on.”
“I don’t take kindly to being stalked,” he whispers in my ear. “And you will pay for what you did, one way or another.”
One way or another? Is he threatening me?
I scratch at his arms until I slice off a piece of his skin with my nails alone, and he groans in pain and finally releases me. I swiftly pull a new knife out of my boot and thrust it at him, but he catches the blade with his bare fucking hand.
“Are you insane?” I growl, watching the blood ripple down his precious fucking hands.
“It takes insanity to best immorality.” He pushes it back so far I’m forced to lean sideways. Out of nowhere, he pulls out a pocket knife and swipes it at me.
The cut in my abdomen goes deep. Gnarly. I groan in pain.
A vicious smirk slowly spreads on his face, and it’s the most beautiful thing in the world, but I still can’t let him win this fight.
I grab his baton and knock it into his crotch to distract him long enough to shove him away.
I make a run for it, but he grabs my arm and smacks my back against the wall so harshly it knocks all the air out of my lungs.
He thrusts a knife right beside my arm, cutting into my flesh, and I yelp in pain.
“Oh no, you don’t!” he growls.
Fuck, I didn’t think he had it in him to actually attack me, but I guess I was wrong.
His fingers lock underneath my balaclava, and he tears it clean off.
It’s silent for a few seconds, while we both stare like we’re seeing each other for the very first time.
His lips part.
He’s seen me.
Oh fuck.
Atreus
My lips part. “It’s you.”
The words come out in a single bated breath as I’m completely stunned.
It’s her.
The woman from Spine Ridge University.
Sunny Reed.
Daughter of Nathan Reed and Lana Rivera. Niece of Dean Rivera.
She’s the woman I found in the woods covered in blood.
I took her to the emergency room, and now she’s here in a balaclava rummaging through my office.
Stalking me.
Her eyes suddenly narrow.
She’s out for blood.
Pure, unadulterated rage takes over as she growls out loud and swipes her leg sideways, knocking me off-balance with her boot, before she rips the knife out of the drywall and slams it into my jacket, pinning me to the desk.
“Hey!” I bark as she bolts toward the window.
I rip my jacket to shreds to release myself, but the second I take one step, she’s already jumped right onto the small balcony and flitters down with a rope, which detaches halfway to the ground.
I stick my head out the window just as she falls onto her back and groans. Her eyes find mine in the dark, unwavering, filled with hatred and … longing.
I swallow back the lump in my throat, my cock throbbing as hard as my heart.
She swiftly crawls off the ground and runs out of the alley.
“Shit,” I mutter to myself, and I slam my hands onto the window before I spin around and bolt out of my office door. I race down the hallway and down the stairs, marching out the door so I can look around.
But she’s nowhere to be seen.
A few leaves gently drift across the street as the chilly wind takes over, and I’m left with an overwhelming sense of calm.
The calm before the storm that I’m about to unleash.